a thousand falling stars and i'd still wish for you
by Pokka
Summary: A collection of mass effect tumblr prompts too small for their own fic. Tags will be updated as I go. Recent chapter: kisses meant to distract the other person from whatever they were intently doing, Jaal/Fem!Ryder


It's a wonder she ever got anything done.

Putting aside the whole " _the archon wants me dead, Tann is an overbearing dick, twenty thousand human lives depend on me and I have no fucking clue what what I'm doing_ " thing...her boyfriend really had no sense of personal space or timing. Like, none.

Prime example being: now. Callidora was trying (keyword: _trying_ ) to be a good pathfinder and fill out some _very_ important reports on the finer details of Elaadin's geological composition (read: _rocks_ ) and he would not stop kissing her neck. And shoulders. And face. Really, just any bit of exposed skin he could get at, which was a lot, considering she wasn't wearing a shirt. More on that later. Right now, his lips were ghosting over the shell of her ear, breath warm and delightfully charged with his bioelectricity, the fine hair on her neck standing on end and _god_ was it distracting. Even more so with the way his hands skillfully worked the knots out of her shoulders. Okay, yeah, and the smug little chuckle he let out at every one of her little sounds of distracted pleasure _definitely_ didn't help.

What a _dick._

"Jaal," She murmurs, tired and stressed and overworked, "I really gotta finish this report." He merely hums against her skin, teeth grazing teasingly over her neck. His hands move lower, thumbs working at her lower back with practiced ease, and she sighs as she bows forward. Again, that smug laugh rumbles in his chest, his lips trailing down her spine. When he finds the scar that wraps from the middle of her ribs all the way to her back, he pauses, and bends down enough to ghost his lips over the puckered skin. Gooseflesh blooms across her skin, a shiver races down her spine and _fuck_ she forgot where she was in her report. Her fingers hover over the keys of her datapad, her mind blanking and instead focusing on the persistent alien currently mapping the freckles on her shoulders with his lips and tongue. " _Jaal_."

"Yes, my stardust?" He chimes happily, unable to completely hide his smugness, no doubt noting the stagnant word count blinking at the bottom of her screen. He hooks his chin over her right shoulder and presses another kiss to the underside of her jaw, grinning when she tilts her head, just a _little_ , to give him more access. "Is something the matter?" His hands slide over her middle, feeling the muscles of her abdomen flex at his touch, feeling her breath catch as he pulls her across the bed and more firmly into his side.

Callidora sighs a little as his arms snake around her, the soft skin of his inner arms warm and smooth, the odd juts of cartilage on his chest a familiar landscape against her back. "I _really_ need to finish this report…"

"Perhaps." He acknowledges, a kiss pressed to her other shoulder. "You _also_ need to rest." A kiss press to her jaw, her cheek, her lips. She sinks into his embrace, the gentle pass of his lips a welcome distraction. One of his hands slips into her hair, cradling her head, and the other quickly snatches the datapad from her loosened grip.

She jerks back, attempts to grab it back but, damn him and his long arms, he easily holds it out of her reach. "Jaal, c'mon," She half-whines, though she doesn't fight for it anymore. His chest rumbles with a swallowed laugh as he tosses the device onto the bedside table, presses a kiss to her forehead. Callidora shifts, laying more fully on Jaal's chest, one leg settled between his, the other straddled over his thigh. She tucks her head under his chin and deflates, slipping her arms around his torso and tucking her hands under his back. "Okay, so maybe you were right." She mutters after a moment, finally feeling the crick in her neck that she hadn't realized was there and the ache in her jaw from clenching her teeth too hard.

With his cheek pressed to her hair, she can feel his lips pull into a smile. "I'm sorry, what was that?" His fingers trail down her arm teasingly, his other hand pressed against her lower back. "I don't think I heard you." She groans, rolling her eyes.

"You're such an ass."

"Hm, no I don't think that was it." He brings his hand up to tap at his chin in thought, just like he'd seen in one of the old Earth vids she'd shown him a week ago. "Perhaps...SAM? Could you replay what Cal said, please?"

SAM's node glows brighter in recognition, rousing from his idle. "Of course." There's a beat of silence before her voice rings out from the embedded sound system, an echo of her admittance, and Jaal shakes with barely suppressed laughter as Callidora _totally_ doesn't pout from her place sprawled on his chest.

" _Thanks_ , SAM."

"You're welcome, Pathfinder."

Callidora groans, torn between being proud that he was finally beginning to take after her or fearing what she might have created. The last thing she needed was _another_ person in her crew ganging up on her. She squirms, attempting to wriggle away from Jaal and his _stupid_ warm embrace and _dumb_ cute laugh and go do some _fucking_ work, instead of deal with this _torment, Jaal._

Unfortunately for her, he has the upperhand, and is able to easily squish her back down against his chest. "Oh, do not be so dramatic." He chastises, peppering her forehead with kisses.

"I can't believe this." She mutters. "I'm calling your mother."

"Oh, please do. She has been asking about children again, and she wanted to make a chart of your cycles."

Callidora's face burns redder than an Eos sunset, and when she rises up enough to look her boyfriend in the eye, she can still see the mirth outlined in his every feature. "You're so lucky I love you." She kisses him, his arms tightening around her by a fraction. When she pulls away, he kisses the tip of her nose, her chin, each of her cheeks.

"I am." Jaal presses his forehead to hers, eyes closed, a small smile still on his lips. "And luckier still that you allow me to love you." Her heart swells in her chest, and if she has to blink away tears, well, hopefully SAM will let this one slide the next time he decides to expose her to her crew.

And, Jaal was right. She needed a break, she needed _this_. Being the pathfinder might be a fulltime job, but that didn't mean that she had to run herself into the ground.

Especially over Elaadin's geological composition (read: _rocks_ ).


End file.
